2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of the variable gas channel which can carry out dynamic control of the amount of water content inside a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23560236
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Thermal engineering
Research Institution	Kyushu Institute of Technology
Principal Investigator	TANIGAWA Hirofumi 九州工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (80197524)
Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha)	TSURUTA Takaharu 九州工業大学, 大学院工学研究院, 教授 (30172068)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2013
Keywords	燃料電池 / 水素 / 可視化 / 熱工学 / 流体工学
Research Abstract	Water management is important in the PEFCs because the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen produces water and condensation occurs in the cathode. We have developed the variable gas channel which can change the position of the rib. In this study, numerical and experimental studies were performed to examine the water behavior and the cell performance of the PEFC with the variable gas channel. Since the rib changes the gas flow, we can suppress the dry out and enables the long-time power generation. It is confirmed that the variable gas channel can control water behavior and improve the cell performance at the dry condition of MEA.